Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines, and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for many years. The popularity of such machines is generally dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value that the gaming machine provides. Where the available gaming options include numerous competing machines and the expectation of winning at each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are most likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting of the machines. Consequently, operators strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines available. Accordingly, in the competitive gaming machine industry, there is a continuing need for gaming machine manufacturers to produce new types of games, or enhancements to existing games, which will attract frequent play by enhancing the entertainment value and excitement associated with the game.
One concept that has been successfully employed to enhance the entertainment value of a game is that of a “secondary” or “bonus” game. The bonus game may be played in conjunction with a “base” game. The bonus game may comprise any type of game, either similar to or completely different from the base game, which is entered upon the occurrence of a selected event or outcome of the base game. This selected event or game outcome is known as a triggering event. Such a bonus game produces a significantly higher level of player excitement than the base game because it provides a greater expectation of winning than the base game and is often accompanied by more attractive or visually interesting game.
Many bonus games have depended upon relatively simple techniques of picking hidden bonus awards from a group of bonus awards to reveal the award amounts payable to the player. Generally, a player continues to pick bonus awards until a stopper or other mechanism exits the player from the bonus game. In lieu of a stopper, the player may have a limited number of selections in the bonus game before the player is exited from the bonus game back into the base game. The player may also be presented with an alternative hidden bonus value, which the player may accept or decline. The selection type bonus games are relatively simplistic. A new game play mechanism is needed to enhance these random selections of bonus values.
One method for improving the anticipation and excitement of the bonus game is to reveal all of the possible bonus game outcomes to the player at the start of the bonus game. The bonus game randomly eliminates possible bonus game outcomes in successive stages until only a single bonus award remains. The remaining award is paid to the player. This allows the player to know the potential awards that he can obtain at the onset of the bonus game, and at each stage of the game allows the player to re-evaluate the award the player could potentially obtain as bonus awards are eliminated.